James Cromwell Sentenced to Jail for Refusing to Pay an Environmental Protest Fine

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 18: James Cromwell discusses "The Promise" with the build sreis at Build Studio on April 18, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/FilmMagic)

Roy Rochlin

James Cromwell, who is set to star in the upcoming Jurassic World sequel, Fallen Kingdom, has been sentenced to a week’s jail time for refusing to pay a $375 fine after a 2015 arrest following a power-plant protest in Wawayanda, New York.

The fine, due on June 29, was for obstructing traffic when he and a few conscientious objectors held a sit-in at a Competitive Power Ventures natural gas site: $250 plus a $125 surcharge. The “Wawayanda Six,” Cromwell and five other protesters, caused a traffic jam on Route 6 during their December 18, 2015 protest. During their trial, held in April, they argued that their actions were justified because emissions from the power plant would cause irreversible damage to the surrounding environment, according to the Times Herald-Record. Three of the six paid their fines, but Cromwell and two other protesters, Pramilla Malick and Madeline Shaw, refused. Cromwell will be serving seven days in Orange County jail starting later this month.

Cromwell has a well-documented history of environmental and animal-rights activism. He became a vegetarian in 1974 after a shocking visit to a Texas stockyard, and went vegan while filming his role as Farmer Hoggett in 1995’s Babe. He even attacked the Bush administration in an interview in 2008, saying that the Republican “pursuit of American empire” would “either destroy us or the entire planet.” Even his upcoming Jurassic World sequel is said to deal with animal rights, using the genetically engineered dinosaurs as a metaphor.

“If we don’t stay together, nothing will change,” Cromwell told the Times-Herald Record on Thursday after refusing to pay his fine. “Power to the people.”